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Milifary ©rder of {Yie boycil be^ion 



United ^fafes. 



dOfflMAWDEI^Y OF THE DI^TI(I(3T OF [!OLUIV[BIA. 



WAR PAPERS. 



50 



" Ipersonal E^^perieaces in, the Volunteer ir{avy 
faring IKe (Livil 'Wcir." 



PREPARED BY COMPANION 

Acting Ensign 

JOSEPH M. SIMMS, 

late U. S. Navy, 

ANO 

READ AT THE STATED MEETING OF DECEMBER 2, 1903. 



cLajM 



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kxmx^l ^x\Hxmuc^ in tht ^ahnxUtt §iavjj 



My service in the Civil War began in April, iS6i, with three 
months' enlistment, in the presence of President Lincoln, at the 
front of the White House, a few days after the bombardment of 
Fort Sumter. 

W"e were mustered in for the defence of the Nation's Capital, 
and what speaks well for the District is that out of 13,000 
who were subject to military service, 4,720 promptly volun- 
teered upon Mr. Lincoln's call for 7^.000 troops. 

It was well known that the quota of the District under that 
:all was only 1,627, ^"^ more than double the quota was fur- 
nished by our city, and a larger percentage than was furnished 
bv any State. 

As it is of Fort Fisher and my personal experience that I am 
to talk, and of the tall of the fort, as well as of the relation it 
bore to the final collapse o'f the Southern Confederacy, I will, as 
far as possible, avoid relating much that happened elsewhere 
than in the vicinity of Federal Point. N. C. 

There was at the northern entrance of the Cape Fear river a 
strong line of earthworks 2.5S0 yards in length — land face of 682 
yards and a sea face of 1,898^ yards — both faces bearing upon 
the sea. 

Some of the pictures, as well as some of the stories, presented 



to the public are so ridiculously iuaccurate that I am moved to 
relate my experience and to tell ot the naval assault as I saw it. 

Fort Fisher was considered the strongest fortress of the sort in 
the world, and was pronounced impregnable. The works were 
constructed under the supervision of General William H. C. 
Whiting, of North Carolina, who graduated from West Point ir 
1S45, sixteen years before his State seceded from the Union. 

Experts in the line of engineering had conceded Genera 
Whiting to be the ablest constructing engineer in the Unite 
States Army at that time, and that his grandest work was in th 
planning of Fort Fisher. 

I need only mention that excellent lawyer and patriotic 
officer. General Benjamin F. Butler, who in his attempt to cap- 
ture Fort Fisher and allow Admiral Porter to present the works as 
a Christmas gift to the Government in 1S64 failed ; and how man 
of the General's friends, and all of his enemies abused him a 
best they knew how. Many persons at that time very muc 
doubted the General's military ability in the field, and it w; 
thought this impression had some ill effect upon our undertakin 
at Federal Point in December, 1S64. 

There were, at the time of assault, not one hundred guns, as] 
stated by some one, but there were in the fort twenty-one and! 
in the adjacent batteries seventeen guns, total guns, thirty-eight, 
and they were enough for us. 

On the 24th and 25th of December, however, there were, 
according to Colonel Lamb's own statement, forty-four heavy 
guns brought into action. 

Lieutenant Commander K. Randolph Breese, the Admiral's 
Fleet Captain, had the command on shore, and Lieutenant Com- 
mander James Parker, the Minnesota's Executive Officer, led 
in the assault upon the fort, and I was at his side. There was, 
an officer upon Mr. Parker's left at the time whom I did not then 
know. 



Durino^ the summer and to December, 1S64, naval officers 
were quite at fever heat at and about Hampton Roads, James 
River, and Norfolk. Va.. over exchanging of prisoners, torpedo 
attacks, boat expeditions, etc. 

We were then daily witnesses to the fact that the Confederates 
were either the meanest people on earth or they had but little 
themselves to eat. There weie many of us. however, who felt 
that it was because of the scarcity of food that our soldiers 'and 
sailors, exchanged prisoners, came back to us in such emaciated 
condition. 

From the 12th of October, 1S64, when Admiral Porter assumed 
command, up to the time we went to the coast to attack the 
fortifications at Cape Fear, for which the Army and Navy had 
been so long planning, there w'ere calls for all sorts of boat ex- 
peditions where there was extra risk of life. 

Now comes the great change for our squadron — " hurry scurry," 
and the final move for the large fleet of ships. It was : " On to 
Fort Fisher." 

Commodore Joseph Lanman was now in command of our ship, 
having relieved Lieutenant Commander J. H. Upshur, who 
went to command of the A. D. Vance. 

There was a gieat number of men transferred to us from the 
Army on the James at this time, and both officers and enlisted 
men were kept pretty busy drilling at the great guns from early 
morning until night, and as the men became proficient in great 
gun drill many of them were distributed among the vessels of 
the squadron which was to soon move. 

On October, 30, 1864, the monitor Motiadnock arrived at 
Hampton Roads. This was the monitor which Admiral Porter 
had, in his report, after the first attack upon Fort Fisher, said 
could go to any part of the world and fight. 

The Monadnock came into the harbor of Callao, Peru, soon 
after the Spanish fleet under Admiral Nunez bombarded that 



city. I was there at the time, attached to the U. S. steamer 
Wateree^ Commander Francis K. Murray ; and Winfield Scott 
Schley was Executive ; but before the battle both of them were 
relieved by Commander Leonard Paulding and Lieutenant 
Edgar C. Merriman. 

For months before the battle at Cape Fear took place some of 
the wise heads were predicting that we would never attack Fort 
Fisher in the same manner we had Fort Royal, Mobile and New 
Orleans, but that we must have an army co-operation. \\\ this 
they were all right ; for we did have an army attack, as well as 
a naval assault. 

According to a statement of the Secretary of the Navy to the 
President, there were one hundred and fifty vessels read\ for 
attack upon Fort Fisher on October 15, 1864. 

At that time the greater number of ships were at or near 
Hampton Roads and off the North Carolina coast in the vicinity 
of Cape Fear. 

Admiral Porter had placed his ships under divisional leaders. 
Our ship, the Minnesota^ was to lead into action the second 
division and was to be the leading ship, to follow the monitors 
and ironclads. 

It was now generally known that General Bragg, of the Con- 
federate Army, had gone from Richmond, Va., to Wilmington, 
N. C, in anticipation of an attack in that quarter. At this time 
the Confederate torpedo arrangements on the James river were 
keeping our vessels there very busy ; also there were elaborate 
plans on foot in that wholesale method of destroying life at the 
approaches to the Cape Fear fortifications. 

The Confederates were now really forced to desperation, for 
they could build no more ships, as iron was not obtainable; all 
timber to be had was in their forests, and it must be hewn out 
from the trees. 

Our capture of prizes, valuable ones at that, was progressing 



rapidly. We were in this way acquiring, almost daily, good, 
swift, Clyde-built vessels, while the Confederates and their 
friends across the Atlantic Ocean were losing their ships and 
money. 

Confederate money was worth but little or nothing by this 
time abroad, and they were brought to the strait of swapping 
their cotton and tobacco, what little could be gotten out through 
the blockade, for the absolute necessaries to sustain life. 

In fourteen months under Acting Rear-Admiral S. P. Lee, 
we had captured fifty-two ocean steamers ; and really it would 
seem that there was nothing left for those gallant men of the 
South to do but fight to the death, or at once abandon all 
hope of ever establishing a government to their own liking. 

In November, 1S64, a little over a month before the bombard- 
ment of Fort Fisher, our ships captured the fine 900-ton block- 
ade-runner Lady Sterling oft' Wilmington ; it was her first trip, 
bound out with a cargo of nearly a thousand bales of cotton and 
three tons of tobacco. That vessel had carried into Wilmington 
a valuable cargo. 

The Lady Sterling cost $250,000, and her outward cargo ot 
cotton and tobacco was worth about $400,000 more. 

This was only one of the many valuable English-built vessels 
with valuable cargoes that were then being lost to the then weak- 
ened Confederate cause. 

Preparations for operations upon a large scale went steadily 
along, and by December ist it was whispered among the officers 
at the Roads that the garrison at Fort Fisher was to be paralyzed 
by the explosion of a mammoth torpedo, or a ship loaded with 
powder, and that all of the guns of the fort would certainly be 
1 1 dismounted. 

Although there were many of us who regarded that report as 
a yarn only, yet, as it turned out, much of it came to pass. 
There was, however, no garrison paralyzed, nor was anybody's 



guns dismounted, by the explosion of, some sav 28=;, some '^00. 
and others 215 tons, of powder in the steamer Louisiana. 

On December 13th, at about 10 A. M., the powder-ship 
Louisiana passed under our stern and out of the capes of the 
Chesapeake Bay, in tow of the U. S. steamer Sassacus, bound 
for Cape Fear, to rattle Fort Fisher ; and very soon we were all 
heading out for sea in the same direction. 

Such a gathering of armed ships of war had never before been 
seen. 

As we proceeded along the coast it was evident that the 
greatest event as yet known to our Navy was near at hand, and 
that the Confederates would likely soon lose their stronghold. 

At 3.30 P. M., December 19, 1864, the Minnesota anchored 
off Fort Fisher. As I had, in another vessel, spent some time 
off that most forbidding, strongly fortified neck of land, sight of it 
at this time presented but little that was new. 

Before the sun went down behind the long line of Confederate 
works we were called to quarters, given a talk, and put into har- 
ness for a desperate bombardment of Colonel Lamb's well-pre- 
pared garrison. 

Then the night watches were set, and quiet was our ship. 
Little did I sleep, for thoughts had full sway during the long 
night. It constantly occurred to me — what a hellish roar it will be 
when all of these ships and the Confederate works get to 
firing. 

A most charming night it was ; here at anchor lay the ships, 
presenting dark lines and streaks upon the pea-green water on 
soundings, while just beyond to the westward, stretched out 
along the sands, of Federal Point were the frowning, formidable 
works of the enemy. 

To me that night the twinkling stars appeared more beautiful 
than I had ever before seen them ; all surroundings wore a peace- 
ful, quiet face ; the sea was smooth, under a gentle south breeze, 



with liere and there schools of the finny tribes of the deep break- 
ing water in their sports around our ship. 

We were to watch for signal from the flagship, and when 
ordered to take position the Mhtnesota was to go ahead slowly 
and anchor about one mile from the fort. 

December 23d a blockade-runner got in past our fleet at high 
tide. One of our soldier-sailors remarked : " I'll bet that Mrs. 
Tyler is on that steamer returning from Nassau." He then 
chuckled, again said : " I was on the steamer when Mrs. Tyler 
took passage for Nassau out from Wilmington, and heard it then 
said that she would return before Christmas." So we really had 
as one of our crew to battle with Fort Fisher a man who had 
been engaged in running supplies to the enemy and who was on 
a vessel that ex-President Tyler's widow went out from Wil- 
mington to Nassau on board of This man had been captured 
running the blockade, and was sent North on our prize, and 
instead of doing as others did — go to Halifax and re-engage for a 
run — he joined our Volunteer Army for pay as a substitute. 

Bkead Supply in Fort Fisher Running Short. 

On this day, December 33d, tlie commander at Fort Fisher 
telegraphed to Major Hill, at Wilmington, N. C. : " Where is 
the bread which was to be sent.? I have only supply to the 31st. 
Please send hardtack." 

So it will be seen that the garrison of Fort Fisher at that time 
had but eight days' supply of bread. 

December 24th, at 5.15 A.. M., the Minnesota^ 48 guns, got 
under way and stood towards Fort Fisher, and anchored in line 
of battle 2,100 yards distant from the fort. Weather fine, sea 
smooth, with light southerly breeze. At 12 noon beat to 
quarters for action. Our noon meal was hardtack and coffee 



lO 



which was passed up from the fiie-room, all other tires being 
put out. 

At about I P. M. the New Ironsides and monitors alone 
opened fire upon the enemy's works ; we were now just one mile 
east half north of the northeast angle of Fort Fisher, with the 
" Mound " battery bearing southwest. 

The batteries fired pretty lively at us; their third and fifth 
shots passed close over our deck, while our shells were being 
hurled into the fort rapidly. Other large vessels of the fleet were 
soon at it, and they all did some excellent work. 

A fire broke out in the fort ; this our masthead lookout attri- 
buted to our ship's shell ; a shot from the enemy cut the spring 
on our cable ; at about three o'clock the flag on the fort was shot 
away; \\\q Minnesota's flying-jib stay, fore-royal and foretop- 
gallant stays were all shot away. The enemy were now firing 
high. 

The sailors at our guns, many of them, were stripped to their 
waists, and were warming up to the work when at 6 P. M. we 
withdrew from action, leaving a buoy to mark anchorage tor to- 
morrow, then stood oft' shore and anchored six or seven miles 
northeast of the fort. 

Into this day's fight the frigates Colorado^ Minnesota^ and 
Wabash carried the largest number of guns of any of the ships 
of the squadron. Total guns of their combined batteries num- 
bered 146 — 52, 4S, and 46, respectively. 

When we consider that these were only three of the 37 ships 
that were hurling shot and shells at the Confederate works some 
idea can be formed as to what a hellish hot place Federal Point 
must have been during the firing of our guns. 

Christmas eve this ! and what for to-morrow.^ which is Sunday, 
and the anniversary of the One who came into the world to save 
all mankind ; and on this day, in all probability, we will be 



II 

using our best eBbrts to kill our brothers, as well as risking being 
launched into eternity. 

" The bursting shell, the gateway rent asunder, 
The rattling musketry, the clashing blade; 
And ever and anon, in tones of thunder, 
The diapason of the cannonade." 

December 25TH, Sunday and Christmas. 

Someone before breakfast at our mess table actually offered 
thanks aloud to God ; and strange as it seemed, on board a busy 
man-of-war, somehow all of us appeared to feel better for that. 

At 9.30 A. M. the big ship was again underway. At 10.45 ^'^^ 
New Ironsides began firing at Fort Fisher, then soon the Moni- 
tors, all four of them, opened fire very rapidly. The momentary 
lull for our ship gave us the opportunity to witness the truly 
thundering, hellish rattle of a first-class bombardment by so 
many ships with big guns, and now I do not wonder at the par- 
tial deafness of so many of us who were there. 

At about II : 15 A. M. the Alhinesota was again at it, from a 
new position, three hundred yards nearer the fort than yesterday. 
We had ojDened fire with our forward guns, and when the anchor 
was down, with suitable scope of cable, the men were stripped 
to their waists for battle, then the flag-ship signalled " cease fir- 
ing." 

There was a slight grumble passed along the decks from gun 
to gun. Sailors, you've heard, -joill •' growl" when they fail in 
getting all they wish for ; but very soon the men were permitted 
to lie down at quarters, Commander Rhind came alongside and 
informed Commodore Lanman that he had placed a buoy 150 to 
200 yards nearer the fort for us. Some of the crew hearing that 
wanted to cheer. 

At I P. M. we were in the new position with a kedge anchor 
out astern and port-bower anchor down, and began firing by 



12 



divisions at the fort, "' Mound," and batteries. The first shot 
from the enemy touched our main-stay, the next one struck the 
ship below the water-line ; hauled out the spanker to steady the 
ship broadside to the enemy ; just then a 30-pounder shell came 
in through our midship port on the spar-deck and went through 
one of the launches and the first cutter, lodging in the stern-sheets 
of the latter boat. 

At 2 o'clock hot coffee was served to all hands. At 4 P. M. 
brailed up the spanker, and then a shell from the fort exploded 
on our chain armor, starboard side. Although many Confede- 
rate shells burst immediately over the decks of the ship, scatter- 
ing fragments to both sides, not one of them did us any harm. 

Soon after 4 P. M. the Confederate flag was shot away the 
second time, and considering the firing of the monitors and all 
of the largest wooden vessels at that time, the gallant enemy held 
to their guns wonderfully well. 

When the flag fell from the fort's northeast salient, the ships 
ceased firing until 4:45 P. M. ; then we again opened fire more 
rapidly than we had before, and the roar of the cannon was 
something terrible ; every particle of flesh upon one's bones 
seemed to be slipping ofl', eyes stinging, and we were almost 
blinded by powder, smoke, and refuse ; the guns and our cloth- 
ing were almost white from saltpeter. 

Several men at my gun, the eleven-inch pivot, bled at the 
nose ; yet none of them flinched, but kept to their stations. 

Less than an hour of that sort of firing seemed an age at the 
great guns, and it was truly an age of indescribable tortme. I 
was told by those who were at the guns between decks, that they 
also suffered terribly during the rapid firing. 

At t^ : 15 P. M. we got the anchors, then steamed ofl' shore. 
I had to, in my poor way, utter a silent prayer for those brave 
men in Fort Fisher, and did tliey mean for us to kill everyone of 
them ? 



^3 

This clay there were some pieces of shells imbedded in our 
ship's hull, but as these were all above the water-line, they were 
allowed to remain. 

The sun went down on this day of all days, " The anniver- 
sary of the Prince of Peace," and now for a spell of quiet. 

The stillness on board was almost as unbearable as had been 
the rapid firing and we preferred to keep at it with the guns. 

So ended our Christmas of 1S64, and we had hurled shot and 
shell enough at the Federal Point works to lay a cast-iron pave- 
ment the entire circuit of its beach. 

In the two days we fired 20,775 poi-i'ids of powder from the 
eleven-inch, nine-inch, loo-pdr. and 150-pdr. guns on the 
Mifi7icsota alone. All projectiles fired were loaded and fused 
shells, and the total number of them fired was 1,982. 

Now if you will for one moment give it thought, it can easily 
be realized, considering the number of ships that were in the 
battle, what an enormous amount of cast iron was hurled at the 
fortifications during the two days' bombardment. 

In the two days the whole fleet fired 20,371 projectiles at the 
Confederate works, which fired at our ships, 1,390 projectiles. 

Colonel Lamb's garrison on Christmas day was 1,371 officers, 
soldiers and sailors. There were 63 of them only killed and 
wounded ; Five of his gun-carriages were disabled, and two of 
his 7-inch Brook guns burst in firing. 

As the Minnesota's position was on the 25th so close to the 
fort our firing told more effectively, and we could plainly see 
that our shells were knocking the lines of the fort's ramparts into 
all manner of shapes, as well as the batteries along the sea face. 
Commodore Lanman meant to have it understood that the 
Minnesota went into the fight for the purpose of demolishing 
Fort Fisher, and putting the works in such shape as to permit 
General Butler to capture them and the garrison. 

December 26th and 27th our magazines and shell-rooms were 



refilled from ordnance schooners, using five of the ship's. boats 
for that purpose. 

It was now quite evident that the Armv had failed to get 
possession of Fort Fisher, for on the 27th the troops that had 
been landed to battle with the Confederates were, the most of 
them, taken on board of the Army transports and at once started 
northward ; the troops that were left upon the beach were soon 
afterward taken ofi'by our ships' boats. 

On this day the 27th a risky blockade-runner, between 4 and 6 
P. M., got in past our fleet and over the bar safely. 

After the magazines and shell-rooms were filled all hands 
were served with fish-hooks and lines, and we took many fish ; 
everybody had a good time, as well as a feast of fresh fish. 

We had fish fresh, fish corned, fish salted down in half pork 
and beef barrels, fish with their heads on, fish beheaded, fish 
with roes, and fish-roes both fresh and salted. In truth, we had 
fish enough. When sailors say enough it is time to quit. 

The effects of that day's sport were noticeable to the last of my 
being on the Minnesota ; many were the good jokes cracked 
during the sailors' smoking hours, touching upon the fishing 
picnic. It was most truly a grand picnic for all hands. As the 
sun was setting on the 2Sth, almost all the squadron, alL except 
the regular blockaders, were underway and standing to the 
northward to ride out a storm, off the bar or in the " bight" near 
Beaufort, N. C. To-day two blockade-runners got in, the 
Banshee and the Wild Rover from Nassau, and the Little 
Hattie got out for Nassau. 

The Squadron Arrives off Beaufort. 

The monitors and other light-draft vessels went into the harbor, 
while all of the larger ships for about 48 to 50 hours rode out 
one of the heaviest gales that was ever witnessed. 



15 

Colonel Lamb stated in his official report, made after we left 
Cape Fear: "I am unable to know what damage was done 
them (our ships), but I am certain the injury inflicted upon them 
far exceeds the injury their bombardment did us. Our Heavenly 
Father has protected my garrison this day, and I feel that He will 
sustain us in defending our homes from the invader." 

During the heavy gale the Juniata and several other ships had 
to slip and heave-to at sea throughout the storm, but they all came 
through it and got back to anchorage without other loss than a 
few anchors. 

We spent two weeks oft' Beaufort, and were then, on the I2th 
of January, 1S65, made happy by the sound of the " calls " of 
the boatswain and his mates summoning all hands up anchor. 
We all fell in at our stations, and as is usual on big ships-of-war, 
we were scattered, and all of us did not again meet at the mess 
table. I feel sad to relate that we have never since then met one 
another, for after that, and forever separated by battle, we went 
to our meals only when relieved from watch on deck. 

The whole fleet was now on the move with General Alfred 
Terry and his transports loaded with troops. 

Part Taken by the " Minnesota " in the Second Bom- 
bardment, Assault Upon and Final Cap- 
ture OF Fort Fisher. 

Please do not think that I would have you believe that this 
good old wooden frigate was the only vessel there, and that her 
officers and men did it all ; but that grand old ship, which was 
recently sold and broken up for junk, -was there, and she and 
her officers and crew played quite a conspicuous part in that, the 
greatest combined Army and Navy engagement of the age, 
against the strongest fort of its sort that was ever known. 

At about 5 A. M. January 13th, we stood in toward the fort. 



i6 



and anchored in close line of battle, one ship's length ahead 
of the Brooklyn. At 8.30 A. M. commenced shelling the woods 
north of Fort Fisher, firing slowly. We were now Soo yards 
from the beach, with the frigate Colorado oft our port quarter. 

Eleven of our boats were gotten out, and there was a race 
with the boats from all of the ships for the Army transports, in 
our effort to make the first landing with troops. 

At about 9 A. M. the ships all ceased firing, and in about five 
and a half hours we had landed 8.500 soldiers, some mules, field 
guns, intrenching tools, hard bread for six days, and some 
ammunition. 

One officer named Tanner, in the landing of troops, did a 
greater work than any of us. He took the soldiers in his boat 
and at the same time towed the mules, landing them all at rapid 
rate. General Terry was also landed by Tanner. Judging 
from the braying and lively kicking by the mules when they 
were clear of the surf and had struck the beach, they were happy 
notwithstanding they must soon face the enemy. 

That officer's arrangement was called " Tanner's Ferry." 

By 5.20 P. M. the Minnesota was in a new position, about 
1,600 yards from the fort, east by north of its northeast salient. 

We opened fire. Wind was light from southwest, thus blow- 
ing the smoke seaward from our guns, and affording a clear view 
of the enemy's works throughout the bombardment. We could 
also see the movements of our troops to the northward of the 
Confederate works. 

The sky was clear, air balmy, and as the sun went down, 
casting the shadows of the fort and batteries seaward, the sombre 
hues in purple and dark grays, softened and blended into the 
brilliant sun-tints upon the edges of the battle-smoke ; it was a 
sight once seen never to be forgotten. 

Up to 6 P. M. this day, January 13th, the Minnesota and other 
ships put in some effective shots. Ours were i i-inch. 9-inch, 



17 

and 150-pdr. shells. Then we retired at about 7 P. M. from the 
fight, and anchored two or three miles oft' shore, while the 
Neiv Ironsides and monitors held to their positions for the next 
day's battle. 

January 14, 1S65. 

This is one of my happy days on board ship among sailors, 
many of whom I had been with, not only in battle before, but 
also upon detached duty in boat expeditions ; and to be with 
such a body of well-tried men, good, honest, brave fellows under 
fire, was a chance in a lifetime for the study of human nature. 

These men who now knew that they were to go on shore to 
assault the fort appeared to be anxious for the job ; yet they 
openly expressed admiration for the gallantry of the enemy, as 
well as sympathy. One of the men said : " How did they hold 
out against the terrible firing from the ships.''" 

Fort Fisher Falls into Our Hands. 

At about 4 A. M., on Sunday, January 15, 1S65, all hands 
were called ''Up anchor." We stood inshore, and at 7.30 got 
out all boats, and sent them with picks and spades to the shore, 
for the use of intrenching parties. 

Companies were made up, equipped and then dismissed with 
orders to " stand by for a call " 

The whole crew were willing to go, and appeared anxious to 
finish the job. As it was, many of the firemen and coal passers 
went with us. 

We were then called to quarters, and at 9.15 x\. M. the Minne- 
sota alone was signalled to proceed and take position. We 
were so close this time (within 1,400 yards) to the fort that the 
enemy could be seen at work jDreparing to give us the best there 
was left in their battered works. 



We were ordered to fire by divisions and dismount the guns 
on Fort Fisher. The ship now lay at a kedge anchor and a 
spring-line made fast to tlie New Ironsides^ when a lively firing 
was opened upon the works from our i r-inch pivot, gun-deck 
batteries and the 150-pounder alternately. After the fire from 
the gun-deck divisions, the enemy ceased firing. 

At 10 A. M. orders were given, " Prepare to land." There 
were many small peisonal matters attended to hurriedly ; letters 
with last words added to them were passed over for mailing; 
also there were sailors trinkets and keepsakes left to be forwarded 
by shipmates who were to remain on board, to kindred of those 
who might fall in battle. 

As we were leaving the ship at 11 o'clock, officers and crew 
remaining on board gave us three cheers. The whole fleet 
appeared now to open fire upon the enemy's works ; pieces of 
shell, tin straps and sabots of the shell from our vessels, together 
with shot and shell from shore batteries, came splashing and 
whistling among our boats. Fortunately, though strange, how- 
ever, there was no one injured by either the enemy's firing or 
that of the ships. 

It was a grand sight to see so many sailors on the strong pull 
for the landing, and it was fortunate to be landed safely through 
the surf with dry ammunition. 

All of the men who were transferred to our ship from the 
army, were given Sharp's rifles, while the older members of 
the crew were armed with cutlasses and revolvers. 

Landed for the assault, were one company of riflemen, 49 
men, under Lieutenant Woodward ; 47 men under Acting 
Ensign Birtwistle ; 47 men under Acting Ensign O'Connor, and 
my company of 44 men, and the ship's marines under Captain 
George Butler, of the Marine Guard, on the Minnesota. We 
were all under Lieutenant Commander J-'unes Parker, the Min- 



19 

ncsota's Executive Officer. Assistant Surgeon Wiiliam Long- 
shaw went with us to attend the wounded. 

We landed about one and a half to two miles above the fort, 
then formed companies in line along the beach, when tlie whole 
were divided into three divisions, each division to be under the 
senioi- officer of the ship divisions, and the marines to be under 
their senior officer on shore. More than 2,000 officers, marines 
and sailors were landed. 

Upon landing. I was at once detailed and told to select my 
men for intrenching at the tront. Before I could do that the 
whole company stepped to the front, and there were more than 
it was intended I should take. We intrenchers advanced, and 
under directions from Lieutenants Preston and Porter succeeded 
in digging one rifle-pit for our sharpshooters without the loss of 
a man killed. 

Several received slight wounds, however, and we were under 
a galling fire from a hateful gun mounted upon a field carriage 
at the fort's salliport, as well as musketry along the land face. 

Together with musketry, canister and grape fired by the 
enemy in front of us, and fragments of bursting shell fired by our 
ships at the rear and left of us, intrenching near the face of Fort 
Fisher was not a very pleasant job, and we who were thus en- 
gaged were not long in throwing up enough sand to temporarily 
protect the few marines who were covering us with muskets. 

Lieutenant Preston came running from the rear, and ordered 
me to advance obliquely to front and left and to dig a trench 
three feet deep. He then turned to my right and was giving 
orders to Assistant Engineer Holton when suddenly, like chafl' 
before a gale, they all vanished. Preston was killed, and I was 
afterwards informed that an acting ensign named Smally finished 
Holton's rifle-pit. 

We were then in one of the warmest, if not the very worst, 
places on the seaside; but I am quite sure that the soldiers over 



20 



on tlic river side were having it hot from the Confederates' 
lire, yet from statements by Colonel Lamb we Navy men, just 
then, received the greatest amount of attention from the garrison 
of the fort, for our assault was considered and treated as the 
main attack to be made. 

When I got to the next point for throwing up sand, it was so 
close to the palisades that we were out of the range of the 
enemy's great guns upon the ramparts; but the confounded 
'' Napoleon " at the base and center of the land face gave us an 
occasional raking with grape-shot, when not doing the same 
thing for other intrenchers. 

Now we could see in front of us only one dark, frowning, 
forbidding line of the fort stretched out across Federal Point. 
About seventy-five to one hundred yards in front of the pali- 
sades, and among wires to torpedoes imbedded in the sand to 
blow us up, we soon had sand enough in front of us for protec- 
tion against small-arm fire ; but this was accomplished by the 
sacrifice of several brave men who were shot dead and many 
others wounded. It was fortunate for us that the battery con- 
nections to the torpedoes in the sand did not work ; if they had 
we should all have been among the missing. 

Marines, under Captain L. L. Dawson, of the Colorado^ filled 
the last rifle-pit I made, and very soon, as the naval force came 
up along the beach, I saw Mr. Parker, our Executive, at the 
head of the column. He hailed me : " Come on, Simms, fall in 
with your men ; we're going to assault ! " 

I wedged the few men into dead men's places, and, not know- 
ing where the balance of my company were, I went to the head 
of the line on Mr. Parker's rigiit. He said: "Go with your 
company," when some officer on Parker's left said : " Let him 
come along." At the time I thought Lieut. Lamson was on 
Parker's left ; but it may have been that Lieut. Commander 
Cushman of the Wabash was there. 



21 



Between the point where I joined the assaulting party, and 
the fort there was no halt before we reached the palisades, and 
when we were within about twenty yards of them we at the 
head of the column turned obliquely to the right, at a point one 
hundred and fifty yards from the fort, and ran to an opening that 
the ships' shells had made, when suddenly the enemy gave us 
the full benefit of their convictions — that we were making the 
main assault ; and this, I have since been informed, was the 
opinion of the commander of the fort at that time. 

Our Executive Officer wore a long rain-coat, which v;as gray 
in color, and when he raised both arms it gave him the appear- 
ance of a large size bat or a small fiying machine. I have often 
wondered how in the world he escaped being shot by either our 
men or the enemy. 

Some one has said that Lieutenant Commander K. Randolph 
Breese was upon jSIr. Parker's left in the advance. So far as I 
ktioxv he may have been there, for then I did not know either 
Breese, Lamson or Cushman by sight, but did become acquainted 
with both Lamson and Cushman, where I fell wounded. All 
three of them were at the front, however, and both Cushman and 
Lamson were wounded. 

With the severe fire of the enemy's musketry it was utterly 
impossible for more than sixty to one hundred of us who were 
already at the front to advance. Our column w^as cut in two, 
and at least two-thirds of the sailors wavered under the wither- 
ing showers of bullets the Confederates were sending among 
them. 

At that time I judged there were 150 to 200 marines and 
sailors who stubbornly advanced and who were finally compelled 
to take shelter under the second angle of the palisades, which 
ran from along the land face of the fort to and around the north- 
east salient at the sea face and then to the beach. 

Acting Master's Mate A. F. Aldrich. of the Tiiscarora^ with 



22 



inariiie Thompson and myself of" tlie Minnesota^ and a sailor 
whom 1 took to be a petty officer, got through the opening in 
the palisades within fifty yards of the fort, when the sailor sprang 
into the air and fell shot through the breast. 

Here we were checked. Fortunately for me that I was not so 
tall as Mr. Parker, for had 1 been a Confederate bullet would 
have gone through my throat instead of the top and fiont of my 
cap. 

I made for the next angle, followed closely by Aldrich. We 
had made but a few steps when I was shot. Aldrich forged a 
few steps further and then sang out: "I'm shot." I tried to 
step and my leg gave way and down I went. Aldrich got back 
under the palisades where others were. I got to my feet again 
but soon fell. Then some one sang out, " They're retreating ! " 
I again got up and yelled "' cowards I " I had said this in the 
excitement of the moment, not seeing that the Confederates 
poured volleys of their hellish fire into the ranks of the staggering 
sailors and marines whom Breese and others were vainly en- 
deavoring to rally to a second charge. 

When upon my feet this time Mr. Parker sang out to me : 
"Lie down, vSimms ; lie down ! There are two holes in you !" 
I fell. 

It would have been impossible for men made of tougher ma- 
terial than flesh to have withstood that firing, and for others to 
advance to where we now were ; neither would the palisades 
afibrd shelter for more than were already under them. 

It was the proper thing for them to retreat, for those who did 
get away did good work soon afterward in conjunction with the 
Army, who by this time were fighting their way into the Con- 
federate works from the Cape Fear river side. 

The Confederates had completely broken us up, where the 
marines and sailors were thickest, also shattered the few of us 



23 

who got to the front, forcing some down to the beach end of the 
stockade and a few closer up under the fort. 

The Admiral had or ^*red that the charge be made around the 
end of the palisade, which was at least 200 yards from the fort's 
sea-face, and at the beach ; but as there were some of us at the 
head of the assaulting column who were at the front when that 
order was read, we led on towards the weakest point in the fort, 
knowing nothing of any order to do otherwise than get there. 
Truly there were many lives saved by our rush for the opening 
in the palisades nearest to the fort, as well as at the most dam- 
aged spot along tlie ramparts. 

The shrieks and groans, mingling with the fiendish rattling 
around us, together with the whistling bullets and the bursting 
shell over us, was enough to cause one to feel that he was in that 
place which General Sherman once described as answering to 
the name of war. 

I was soon alone upon my bed in the sand, with the protrud- 
ing Confederate naval battery upon my left and the lofty salient 
above me, while from between them came the fire of nuisketry, 
giving: fifood cause for mv thinking that all was up with me this 
time. An occasional shell from some ship of ours struck un- 
comfortably near, some bursting and scattering their fragments 
in all directions, while a few landed were smoking only. 

As officers and enlisted men were shot and fell upon the beach 
all along the line, from the beginning to the centre, the roaring 
surf afforded some of them " winding sheets," and those men 
were reckoned among the ••* missing." 

As darkness of the night came the ships ceased firing over us ; 
then with a sudden volley the enemy showered their hot lead at 
the small crowd of officers and sailors at the palisade. Very 
soon rapid, rattling musketry was heard upon the west side of 
the fort, where evidently our Army was getting into close action 
with the enemy ; so now we were •' let alone" upon the sea-front. 



24 

I cannot state from personal observation anything relating to 
the fight that was then, after dark, going on between our boys in 
blue and the brave ones in gray beyond saying that from the con- 
tinual rattle and roaring of guns there was hell to pay over their 
way. 

It can easily be imagined what a desperate hand-to-hand bat- 
tle it must have been, and, from truthful statements of those 
Army men who passed through the bloody scene under the light 
of the stars, it was something almost beyond description. 

Three marines from our ship. Corporal Ranahan and pri- 
vates Thompson and Shivers, and ordinary seaman Thomas 
Connor, were with the few who were at the palisades. One of 
them came to me where I lay on the sand, and Connor assisted 
others to carry me oft' the field. 

There were others near us, strewn upon the sand between us 
and the beach. Many were dead and some were groaning and 
dying, while some few were crawling oft', leaving blood-stained 
sand marking the spot where they fell and coiu'ses taken. 

Lieutenants R. H. Lamson and J. R. Bartlett, Ensigns J. 
Hoban Sands and Robley Evans were there. The first three got 
well up to the front. Evans was wounded, and, according to 
official report, he fell near the end of the palisade near the beach. 
I have met all of these ofiicers since the Civil War. 

The sailor who entered the palisade with Aldrich and myself 
and was killed, I have since learned, was found where he fell the 
next morning by Acting Ensign F. P. B. Sands, of the Gettys- 
burg. This officer, with the commander of the Gettysburg ^.\\(\ 
his crew, was in our division, which Lieutenant Commander 
James Parker commanded in the assault, and Sands received 
promotion shortly' after the fall of the Cape Fear fortifications. 

While I lay groaning I made the acquaintance of Cushman 
and Lamson. These two and Mr. Parker looked well to the care 



25 

of our wounded ; after dark Mr. Cushman crawled across me in 
the dark, begged pardon, and said, " Come, get away ! " 

Another officer ventured over where I lay, whom Cushman 
called Lamson. When they found that I could not move they 
both said I would soon be taken off. To me, just then, their 
remarks had a double meaning. 

Excepting the groans from the wounded and dying, and the 
murmuring, moaning sea along shore, or now and then a stray 
shot from one of our men in the sand-hills, and its acknowledg- 
ment by one of the enemy who remained upon the fort's parapet 
to take care of us while their main force was engaged with our 
Army a thousand yards towards the river, it was comparatively 
quiet. 

I am telling you, my friends, that the U. S. frigate Minne- 
sota's officers, sailors and marines were at the front, and, natu- 
rally enough, there were many of them found killed and wounded 
there. 

The wound that I received at Fort Fisher was an extremelv 
bad and painful one ; the bullet struck on the inside, just above 
the right knee, passing fourteen inches through the thigh ; it 
struck the pelvis bone and escaped at the hip. 

As the darkness had closed in around us, and after the visit 
from Cushman and Lamson, our Executive, Mr. Parker, came 
across the sand and gave me a stimulant ; in doing so he came 
very near to not having any left to give any one else ; for it was so 
deliciously warming and strengthening that when I had shut my 
teeth down upon the neck of his flask, I almost played turtle, by 
closing my eyes and forgetting to let go. I did let go, however, 
before the kind man's flask was emptied. 

From the loss of blood I had become very weak, and prayed 
for death to come, but not from the death-blow of one of our 
own ships. One good fellow, who twisted his neck-handker- 
chief about my hip, received a bullet and then crawled ofl' to- 



26 



wards others at the palisade. That poor fellow had rolled me 
into a hollow in the sand, and when he was shot he muttered 
something about his mother, ''and, if I get through," &c. 

I had seen our officers and men shot down at the water edge 
during the advance upon the fort, at the immediate approach to 
the slope ; also at the palisade, where it was impossible to aid 
them off the field before dark. 

There were few, if any, who fell within one hundred yards of the 
fort who reached the temporary hospital on the sand up tiie 
beach ; but those who were wounded further away were taken 
there by their comrades. 

Every officer but one of the Minnesota reached the palisades. 
Our lieutenant of marines had his company of sharpshooters 
in the sand-hills near us and east of the northeast salient, and 
they kept up an enfilading fire up the slope to the fort from where, 
upon the ramparts, the Confederates could fire down upon us. 

As already stated I lay where I fell well into the dark of the 
night, and as there was no other music but the murmuring, 
splashing sea upon the beach, mingling with the moans and 
groans of our wounded who were unable to get away, I joined in 
the choir and groaned to my heart's content from between 3 and 4 
o'clock to S P. M. In this time all things from my early child- 
hood flashed through my brain. 

According to Secretary Wells's report, thirty-seven of the ves- 
sels bombarded Federal Point works, with nineteen reserve ves- 
sels on the outer line. 

In a letter to Major Hill, at Wilmington, Colonel Lamb ex- 
pressed the wish for some 12 x 12-mch timber and 3-inch plank 
to enable him to mount four guns which Hill desired around the 
*' Mound" battery. The Colonel also wrote that he needed 
negroes, as he had not been able to repair earthworks, and, 
said he, " I am ready to repel Admiral Porter; but if you give 
me five hundred negroes and enough timber to mount guns I 



27 

will make him leave some of his vessels behind." The Colonel 
said he needed the 500 negroes to take the place of 200 worn-out 
ones he then had, who could do no work. 

At about S P. M. Mr. Parker came with four sailois and took 
me to the beach. I was put into Lamson's gig (boat) and sent 
off to the Minnesota. Shortly after I was on board and swung 
in a cot in the ward room of the big ship there was a great 
cheering on deck, blowing of whistles, and a lurid glare of 
rocket lights. Then I knew that it all meant that Fort Fisher 
had fallen into our hands ; so I joined in the cheering. Some 
one said that the fort surrendered at 10 P. M. 

During the three days of the second bombardment of Fort 
Fisher the whole fleet expended 19,682 projectiles, making a 
total weight of 2,927,937 pounds of iron and oowder hurleil 
against the fort and batteries in both bombardments, in five days, 
December 24 and 25, iS6^, and January 13. 14 and 15, 1S65. 

With the fall of Fort Fisher and its adjoining batteries Fort 
Caswell was evacuated and blown up, Bald-Head and Fort Shaw 
were destroyed, Fort Campbell w'as abandoned, and one hundred 
and sixty-eight guns of heavy calibre were captured, all nearly 
within gunshot of Fort Fisher. 

After the fort had surrendered Mr. Parker came on board, 
and as daylight was peeping in through air-ports he came to 
me and asked for my home address. After I was in hospital 
several weeks my mother sent me a letter that Mr. Parker had 
wa'ilten to her, of which the following is a copy : 

U. S. Frigate " Minnesota," 

Off Wilmington, N. C, 

January 16^ 186^. 

Dear Madam : Your gallant son yesterday, in assaulting 
Fort Fisher, was wounded. His wound is not dangeious, 



28 



thouorli severe ; no bones broken. He goes to Naval Hospital 
at Norfolk, Virginia, by same vessel with this. 

His conduct was splendidly gallant, and we regret that he did 
not escape unhurt. 

He will be recommended for promotion. 

With best wishes, yours truly, 

(Signed) James Pauker, 
Lieutenant Conunander. 
Mrs. Ann Simms, 

Washington. 

As this long night of intense suffering was about drawing to a 
close, and as day dawned, the prettiest daybreak I had ever be- 
fore witnessed, it vvas to me a most welcome sight, for I could see 
the beam of heaven's pure light gleaming in through the air- 
port abreast of me, in the big ship's side. 

I now thanked God that I was alive, while only eight hours 
before that I had offered a prayer longing for death, and at that 
time would gladly have welcomed it. 

" Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, 
But to be young was very heaven." 

I was with others wounded sent to the Santiago de Cuba^ 
and by that vessel taken to the hospital at Norfolk, where I 
roomed for seven weeks with William F. Pratt, J. F. Merry, now 
admiral, retired; L. R. Chester, now lieutenant, retired; A. F. 
Aldrich and E. K. Green, all of whom were officers of the Vol- 
unteer Navv, and were wounded at Fort Fisher. 

While I do not intimate that the fall of Fort Fisher was the all- 
important event which settled the then "• so-called rebellion," I 
do contend that, with the capture of that important stronghold at 
Cape Fear, the war must soon end ; and so it did, for the main 



29 

channel through which the Confederates had been, through the 
whole four years of the war, receiving foreign aid and supplies 
was now closed. 

And now that good old flag, the Stars and Stripes, is the only 
banner for all sections of our grand and glorious country. 

'• Long may it wave o'er the land of the free and the home of 
the brave." 



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